Ryan Tseng 🇺🇸

Reconnaissance VTOL is becoming a critical layer in modern defense infrastructure. Proud to support the outstanding Ukrainian team at Buntar Aerospace — building exactly what modern defense needs.

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Impressive progress from our portfolio Array Labs with a $20m Series A to scale radar manufacturing and prepare for launch. Designing radar systems for mass manufacturing, borrowing from consumer electronics and telecoms, is a powerful unlock for cost, speed, and deployment at scale. The traction speaks for itself: nine-figure contracted revenue, multiple government awards, and expanding product lines. Exciting to see this next phase of execution begin. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/e93jz4k8 #SpaceTech #DualUse #Radar #DefenceTech #NewSpace

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Congratulations to CEO Chris Pearson and the team at Agile Space Industries on their successful Series A financing. Veteran Ventures Capital is proud to be a key contributor in this financing, and we have been an investor and enthusiastic supporter for the past 18 months. Agile is building scalable chemical propulsion systems that can meet mission timelines without compromise.🚀 In the last 3 years, Agile revenues have tripled, a multi-year backlog has been built and the opportunity pipeline approaches $2B in value. Agile has been cash positive for more than 18 months--a rare and yet critical accomplishment in today's venture markets. This oversubscribed Series A financing will allow Agile to more aggressively invest in infrastructure growth. Agile's expanding product offerings, manufacturing throughput and test capacity will be accelerated and scaled in Colorado, Oklahoma and beyond. This team is blasting off....let's go!!

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What makes defense tech so unique and compelling? Committed founders are solving problems they lived on the front lines. Engineers started their careers building complex hardware rather than apps for the optimization economy. A highly connective startup ecosystem aimed to build each other up is quickly maturing before our eyes. And when it's successful, it all benefits our national security. Founders in this sector, whether they served or not, grew up in 20 years of conflict. This has massively shaped why we see so many incredible people investing their time and energy in building technologies that protect us, keep us safer, and expand our horizon as a nation. I was very proud to share my thoughts from the last 10 years for this article with Kaela Roeder of Technical.ly. I truly appreciate her taking the time to write about defense tech, speak with me, and talk with amazing founders including Greg Davis of Overwatch Imaging and Rory Brogan of Torev Motors and mission-aligned VCs like Joshua Weed of Veteran Ventures Capital. There’s so much that’s been achieved and so much more to come! Read the whole story at the link in comments. #defensetech #vc #venturecapital

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Building a Venture-Backed Defense Tech Company: What Actually Works Navigating the complexities of defense technology can feel like a Herculean task fraught with long timelines and complex bureaucracies. Here’s a deep dive into how to make the leap from startup to a venture-backed company that thrives in the defense tech realm. Get your free financial model to guide your journey: https://lnkd.in/ged-tg9x Why Treating Defense Tech as Just Another Customer Segment is a Pitfall Unlike traditional industries, defense tech startups face unique challenges. Success in this sphere requires understanding its distinct dynamics: - Separated Decision Makers: Users and buyers work in different locations, meaning the needs of military end-users might not align directly with procurement strategies. - Complex Budget Control: The DoD doesn’t control its budget straightforwardly, influenced by Congressional decision-making and political dynamics. - Extended Timelines: With an average timeline of over four years from funding to contract, the patience and strategy muscle are essential. The Three Shifts That Spell Success Successful defense tech entrepreneurs adapt to these unique conditions through strategic shifts: 1. Plan Long Building a robust financial strategy is vital. Understand funding expectations specific to each investment round. Anticipate needing approximately $325M over your company’s lifecycle. This foresight ensures sustainable growth and positions your venture for eventual scalability. 2. Signal Early R&D funding isn’t just a preliminary step; it’s your first sale. Begin with connecting to program offices instead of solely performing demonstrations. Prioritize learning and addressing demand signals to build authentic connections. 3. Scale With Structure Prepare for revenue generation even before achieving product maturity. Essential milestones include securing 2–5 contracts with scalable DoD buyers, ensuring $2M–$10M in committed awards, and tracing a clear path to $100M+ in signed deals. What VCs Require: Beyond the Narrative In this high-stakes world, a compelling narrative isn't enough for early-stage investors. They seek: - Early Demand Signals: Highlight genuine interest and commitment from potential buyers. - Milestone-Based Growth: Translate your achievements into tangible purchasing behaviors. - Revenue-Driven Strategies: Demonstrate clear and credible paths to eventual revenue, aligning with their fund size. Start With the End in Mind Navigating defense tech successfully hinges on aligning your aspirations with the process itself: - Embrace the DoD as your primary client, not just another client. - Focus on strategic revenue generation from ground zero, not just securing funding. - Think long-term and move with strategic precision. Credit goes to insightful pioneers, Dan Berkenstock & Helen Phillips of the Hoover Institution. Credit : Venture Capitalist Repost by Salem Bagami

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Proud to see MightyFly push the boundaries of what autonomous aerial logistics can enable. MightyFly has secured a $50M partnership with a leading healthcare diagnostics company to enable same-day delivery of medical test kits using their autonomous, hybrid-electric cargo aircraft. This is not just a commercial win, it’s a glimpse of what the future of critical logistics looks like. With the Cento’s long range, meaningful payload capacity, and dramatically lower costs and emissions, MightyFly is showing how autonomous eVTOL systems can transform access to healthcare, speed up diagnostics, and strengthen supply chains where every hour matters. This is just the start. https://lnkd.in/gJNUdrPD #AviationInnovation #FutureOfLogistics #AutonomousFlight #AerialLogistics #eVTOL #AdvancedAirMobility #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalLogistics #HealthcareSupplyChain #DroneDelivery #HybridElectric #SustainableAviation #TechForGood #MightyFly #Cento

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Excited to announce Assembly Ventures most recent investment in Evitado Technologies. We believe Alexander Kasinec and Andrew Moakes are two of the most innovative founders, and have created one of the most innovative start-ups, in the aviation sector. 🎉 🛫 Today they are deployed across airports and airlines on three continents. 🌎 🌍 Tomorrow they are coming to an airport near you to make egregious ground delays upon arrival, and so many other inefficiencies, a thing of the past. 🛬 🙌 Air, land, sea and space. We are moving to win to move the world. #movetowin #movetheworld #Evitado #AssemblyVentures #upupandaway

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Build. Launch. Operate. Most space companies aren’t really space companies, they are SaaS or data product companies. An end-to-end space mission company can reduce costs and headaches. Gilmour Space landed $200M + last month and while most will recognize them as a launch company, they build satellites and provide end-to-end mission services. Space is fun, so a lot of companies get caught up in the Sat development when they really need to focus on their payload and business plan. Go-to-market is hard, just like space. Once you get to space, then the really hard part kicks in: generating revenue and customer acquisition. Many will wish they outsourced the space part earlier to focus on the sales and relationship building. I’m not saying you can’t do it on your own. But you should at least explore outsourcing the “easy” part Gilmour Space Technologies #smallsat #space #launch

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What exists beyond vision? How do machines reason when their human trainers are limited by their own perception? What does autonomy look like when both data and operators are scarce and expensive? The last decade has shown us that autonomy is deeply path-dependent. Much like reasoning in language, physical autonomy is an emergent property of coherently designed perception, intelligence, and control with shared assumptions about uncertainty, observability, failure modes, and feedback. This matters on roads, but it matters even more in medicine - the most safety-critical, perception-limited, and data-constrained environment of all. It's where trust, reliability and consistency matter far more than speed or scale. If you’ve worked on autonomy in robotics, AVs, aerospace, or manipulation and you’re curious what it would mean to apply those ideas to medicine, we’d love to compare notes!

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Introducing EON Space Labs – Redefining Electro-Optical Payloads Every time I speak with surveillance platform operators, a common theme emerges: the payload tech is often not made in India. While we’ve come a long way in RF, EO (Electro-Optical) and IR (Infrared) technologies still remain a challenge. That’s why discovering Eon Space Labs, a deep-tech startup incubated at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and now based in Hyderabad, was such a pleasant surprise. Not only have they developed #EO and #IR payloads, but they’ve also revolutionized how they’re built. Their polymer-based, single-block #monolithic design offers major benefits: ✅ 33% smaller platform size ✅ Improved performance with lower distortion ✅ 4x higher stability for better reliability ✅ Lower total cost of ownership ✅ Fully indigenous design and manufacturing The spark for EON came from its founders— Sanjay Kumar Punit Badeka Manoj Kumar —during their time at Lv Prasad Eye Institute , where they worked on precision optics. Their shared vision and complementary skills led them to take the leap in 2022 and start EON Space Labs, right across from the institute that inspired them. I’m thrilled to share that MountTech Growth Fund - Kavachh is leading their $1.2M Pre-Series A round, staying true to our belief in backing cutting-edge tech for an #Aatmanirbhar #Bharat 🇮🇳. From discovering the opportunity to leading the round, this has been an incredible learning journey for me. I’m excited to work closely with this passionate and talented team as we move forward—one step at a time. Ajay Kumar Raj Sethia Vandana Swarup Anagh Singh Ankit Harjai Nagendra Nadig Suryakant Dalmia Sanjay Chamria Vedant Dalmia Satish Ghormade Lt Gen Dr Anil Kapoor AVSM, VSM (Retired) Anurag Srivastava Z47 1Crowd Cdr Navneet Kaushik Jamwant Ventures Samarthya Investment Advisors Mela Ventures Speciale Invest Vishesh Rajaram Suhani Doshi Sid Jain HVB 88 Angels LLC SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd Inc42 Media YourStory Media Startup SG PitchBook The Economic Times #DeepTech #SpaceTech #MadeInIndia #AatmanirbharBharat #StartupIndia #Innovation #IndianStartups #FundingAnnouncement #IITMadras #ElectroOptics

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During our Defense Tech Hackathon in El Segundo, one name kept coming up: Ethan. At the time, he was still at Caltech, not yet graduated, and already had no shortage of options in front of him: NASA on his resume, work in a lab with a professor, even the chance to spin technology out of the university. He still chose to found. Today, Ethan Barajas is building Icarus Robotics: the robotic labor force for space. Right now, that means dexterous mobile robots to augment astronaut crews in tasks like taking out the trash or unpacking cargo. Over time, it means enabling research, manufacturing, and everything else that makes a real space economy possible. Icarus came out of EF, pitched at our Demo Day in San Francisco, and shortly after raised a $6M seed round. Now they are working with major players in the space industry and getting closer to testing their technology in space.

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Per @TechCrunch, #Firefly Aerospace is going public. @Firefly_Space has notched a string of successes this year, including a historic commercial moon landing. 2024 revenue was $55M, most from spacecraft moon landings, net loss was $231M. The future growth drivers include a launch agreement with @LockheedMartin, an in-space transportation project #Elytra, and a backlog of orders worth $1B #investors #investing #startup #venturecapital #viaduct #viaductventures #tech #ai https://lnkd.in/dVTn-gUG

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AI isn't just powering software. BrightAI just raised $51 million to automate inspection and other hardware-based AI capabilities. As Alexa von Tobel, co-founder of Inspired Capital put it: “So many people are so focused on the future of digital AI, but we’re excited about this new layer of AI: the physical world AI.” We are in the early innings of a series of AI-fueled innovations! https://lnkd.in/enhmafvH

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When we at Alpine Space Ventures first backed Karan Kunjur and Neel Kunjur in the summer of 2023, K2 Space Corporation was already distinct. In an industry often obsessed with miniaturization, they had the contrarian courage to go big—really big. Watching them evolve from those early discussions on vision and architecture to the stellar execution we see today has been a privilege. Today’s announcement of their $250M Series C isn’t just a fundraising milestone; it is a validation of the belief that the future of space infrastructure belongs to those who dare to scale up, not down. For decades, the “status quo” in satellite manufacturing has dictated that high capability must come with an exorbitant price tag and years of lead time. Incumbent builders have long operated in a paradigm where mass and power are scarce, luxury resources. K2 Space has shattered that ceiling. By leveraging a mega-class architecture that delivers massive power and payload capacity at a significantly lower cost point, they are doing more than just undercutting legacy pricing—they are unlocking entirely new business cases that were previously economically impossible in orbit. The speed at which this team is moving from design to metal is nothing short of exceptional. We invest in early-stage space companies precisely for this moment: when the initial hypothesis transforms into inevitable reality. K2 represents the shift from a constrained space economy to one of abundance, where the limitation is no longer the bus you can afford, but the ambition of the mission you can dream up. A huge congratulations to the entire K2 Space team on this massive achievement. We are incredibly proud to have been in your corner since the early days and to continue this journey alongside our friends and co-investors Redpoint, Hedosophia, Altimeter and Lightspeed. This is still just the beginning of a huge story.

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Quick thought from my desk at Innovance In 1906, a single document (US Patent 821,393) transformed two bicycle-shop engineers into America’s first aviation enterprise. Investors like Vanderbilt funded it with $1 million in capital, despite limited visibility on the product-market fit. A decade later that same IP formed the backbone of a government-brokered patent pool that enabled US and British forces to churn out aircraft, asserting their dominance during WWI. That’s the power of a well-timed patent: it doesn’t just protect a breakthrough; it mobilizes money, partners and policy. Fast-forward to today’s tech ventures, there are 3 key takeaways: 1️⃣ Patents can attract capital from the right investors before product-market fit. Investors back assets they can value - IP turns “interesting technology” into an investable asset. 2️⃣ Strategic licensing builds coalitions - Whether it’s a government contract or a Fortune 500 co-development deal, clear IP rights expedites business development. 3️⃣ IP is a growth engine, not a cost centre. The Wright brothers story shows how a well-structured portfolio can finance R&D, accelerate adoption and even shape national policy. At innovance.ai, we treat IP as an engine, not insurance. We convert R&D into bankable collateral, structure licensing pathways and make sure your technology is ready to scale globally from day one. ✉️ Thinking about how your breakthrough could fly further? Let’s talk. #IPStrategy #IntellectualProperty #InnovationStrategy #IPCommercialization #Innovance

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Momentum continues to build around next-generation propulsion technologies. Specter Aerospace’s collaboration with SNC to develop supersonic aerial launched effects reflects growing interest in systems that combine extended range with scalable deployment.

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Over half a BILLION Space dollars in May!? Funding. Acquisitions. Hiring Trends. This month, $513M flowed into space companies scaling hardware, power systems & secure comms. Big rounds from True Anomaly ($260M), Apex ($200M), and mPower signal a shift to ops-ready infrastructure across LEO, GEO & cislunar. 🛰 Major M&A: - AeroVironment’s $4.1B acquisition of BlueHalo - IonQ x Capella Space ($318M) 📈 Hiring is hot in engineering – electrical, embedded, and software lead the pack – but sales & delivery roles are rising too. The space sector is scaling fast again! return of 2021-2022 season? Come on, You KNOW you want to be subscriber number 41,728 👉🏻 Subscribe on LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/eUHkyWEi #SpaceIndustry #VentureCapital #HiringTrends #EVONA

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